Sparring Partners (15 page)

Reed's eyes flashed to his at the same time
Bennett joined them. He didn't touch Reed, but he was standing way
to close.

"Oh, Shay. Sai practice. I forgot we
scheduled it for this afternoon. I'm sorry. With Irma coming
and..." she looked at Jordon briefly then back at him. Flushing
eight shades of pink she continued, "everything else that's
happened, it slipped my mind."

Shay wanted to hit something, preferably
Bennett. He must have sensed Shay's animosity because he stepped up
giving Shay a look Shay couldn't read. The man seemed to know Shay
wanted to knock his teeth out, but he wasn't rubbing Shay's face in
it. If anything, he seemed to understand. Shay held his gaze for a
moment before Jordon looked at Reed and nodded toward the
house.

"Go change and grab your gear. Henry, Finn
and I can see that Mrs. MacDonald gets settled in."

Reed hesitated and Jordon took command. "Go.
Have a good time. I need the time to get my things settled here
anyway. So does Henry."

Shay watched as Reed's back stiffened, just
as Irma's had earlier. "You're not staying."

"I am." Jordon didn't raise his voice, but
the finality in his tone wasn't lost on Reed or the rest of his
audience. "We can have this conversation now or after you and Shay
have had a chance to work out with weapons. It's up to you when we
talk. Outcome's the same. I'll be here when you get back. Now go.
Have a good time."

Reed must not have wanted to fight in front
of her newest tenant because she looked at Irma and then at Shay
before she jogged off. "Give me five minutes."

Shay had all he could do to nod and watch
her go, knowing it was for keeps this time. The way she acted with
Bennett, combined with Bennett's reaction to her, said better than
words could have that Reed Mohr was unequivocally off the
market.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Henry finished installing the last of the
surveillance equipment around the house and the perimeter of the
property before any of Potters Woods' usual residents returned
home. He managed to fully wire Finn's workshop as well. He knew it
wasn't necessary to bug her workshop, but he did it anyway, telling
himself he was only interested in maintaining security, knowing
full well it was a lie. He wanted to keep an eye on Finn. It was
that simple and that complex, he thought, shaking his head at his
own idiocy as he shut the door to Finn's workshop.

The cat, Freya, materialized out of the
trees, silent, until she unleashed a growl any self respecting
canine would be proud of, making Henry stop just outside Finn's
door.

"What? I'm not going to hurt her you know.
It's more likely that mistress of yours will be stomping all over
me, so run away do something cat-like. Leave me alone."

"When did you start talking to
yourself?"

Henry whipped around. "I wasn't talking to
myself, I was talking to...oh never mind." Henry glanced back
toward the trees. His feline tormentor was gone. With relief he
turned back to Jordon. "Were you looking for me?"

"Finn actually. Is she around?"

"No. She snuck out to met that jail-bait
painter of hers for a little tete-a-tete."

Jordon grinned at him through tired eyes,
making Henry wish they'd been the ones going to the dojo to train
instead of Reed and Shay. He could use a target to help him
exorcize the frustration he felt every time he got within five feet
of Reed's aunt. Jordon would do as well as any other target,
especially if he kept grinning like a fool at Henry's expense.

"You only use French when you're pissed off
about something. So why would Finn meeting with her painter bother
you? How do you know he's jail bait and why does it matter?" Jordon
asked.

Henry shrugged, trying to pretend Finn
running to her lover didn't bother him. "I checked him out, just
like I did with everyone who has any tie to this place when you
asked me to find out Reed's ring size. I knew who he was before you
decided to buy the mortgage to this place."

Jordon stopped smiling. "So is there more to
this than voyeurism and the desire to get into Finn's pants? Is
this guy a threat?"

Henry laughed without mirth. "No more than a
remora is a threat to the shark it's attached to."

Jordon visibly relaxed, seemingly happy to
yank Henry's chain once again now that he knew there was no threat
to Reed or Potters Woods.

"So now Finn's a shark. Does she devour
young painters whole, or only mature heads of security?"

Maybe Henry could talk him into going a
round or two without pads, he suddenly wanted nothing more than to
kick Jordon's ass. He supposed he should thank him for the
diversion, but Henry wasn't in a thankful frame of mind.

"Give it a rest, Jordon. I'm attracted to
her, that's all. I'll get over it. I always do."

"She's beautiful and talented. Reed showed
me some of her paintings and some of the metal work she's done.
There are little statues hiding all over the place around here. A
bit whimsical for my taste, but she's good. She's also kept them
out of bankruptcy longer than even I would have thought possible.
She's got a good financial mind. Hard to get a woman like that off
your mind."

"If she's so great why didn't you marry
her?" Henry said, more than a little annoyed.

He didn't need his best friend reciting a
list of Finn's attributes. He'd figured them out already, and was
actively thinking up reasons why he didn't like attractive, smart
women, especially tall ones with denim blue eyes and curves Reubens
would have drooled over.

"She's not a red-headed elf."

Jordon's answer made no sense to Henry.
"What?"

"She's not Reed, you moron. That's why I
wouldn't marry her. What's gotten into you?"

A blond amazon with a body made for sin
and eyes that promised heaven
.

Henry didn't say the words out loud. Jordon
wouldn't understand how Henry could fall so hard or so fast. Jordon
was falling for Reed but that didn't mean he realized how far gone
he was, and he certainly wouldn't cut Henry any slack for following
his lead.

With Reed, everything was different, from
the way Jordon hid who he was to the way his voice changed when he
said Reed's name. Henry had never actually seen Jordon get angry or
raise his voice to any woman like he did with Reed. That shocked
him at first, but Henry was getting used to it. He wondered if
Jordon ever would.

"Nothing's gotten into me that I can't
handle." Henry changed the subject. He was sick of talking about
his love life, or lack of the same. "Did you tell Reed that you own
the mortgage on this place yet?"

"That's a conversation I hope I don't have
to have anytime soon. She's got enough to deal with right now with
out adding that to the list."

"Reed may not figure it out, but Finn's
going to when she writes the next check to the bank."

"No she won't." Jordon ran a hand through
his overly long hair pushing it ruthlessly away from his forehead.
"At least she won't if she doesn't look too hard. I asked the bank
to deposit all the funds they receive from Potters Woods into a
cash account in Reed and Finn's names."

"That'll last until she asks for a
statement." Henry said.

"Don't remind me."

"You're playing with fire here, Jordon. Tell
Reed who you are and why you need her before she finds out on her
own. She likes you. She can handle it. If you wait, she'll think
you lied to her, and Reed doesn't strike me as the kind of woman
who takes deception well. She's too straight forward for that.
How's she going to feel when she finds out you bought her home out
from under her while she and Finn are working so hard to bring in
funds wherever they can?"

"I'm doing what I always do, deal with the
situation as it stands. Improve it and move on." Jordon said, like
it was no big deal. Henry knew better. Neither of the Mohr women
were going to appreciate the fact that Jordon now owned their
home.

"What if they don't want to improve their
situation?"

"They have to sometime, Henry. The money
Irma's bringing in won't last long."

"What are you talking about?"

"Irma's dying. She's got days," Jordon bent
and picked up an errant landscaping stone, putting it in his
pocket. He was always doing that, picking up odd things with no
inherent value and keeping them. Henry never could figure out
why.

"Maybe she's got weeks, but not months. Reed
and Finn are going to have to find a different route to solvency
soon."

"Did Irma tell you that?" Henry asked.

"No. She didn't have to. She's got the same
haunted look my grandma had just before she told us about the
cancer diagnosis, like she's getting all her ducks in a row before
she settles in for the big nap."

Henry let that go. Irma didn't look that
sick to him, but Jordon had a sixth sense when it came to people,
and in Henry's experience, he was usually right. That's why it was
so amazing to him that Jordon had no sense at all when it came to
Reed.

Henry locked Finn's workshop using the tools
he had made for just that purpose. He left the shop exactly as he
found it except for the tiny cameras and microphones he
installed.

"I'm done here. The house is wired too. I've
got the perimeter cameras in place already so we're covered. Buying
the forty acres surrounding this place made that easy. What are you
going to do with it when this is over?" Henry asked.

Jordon wasn't even subtle with changing the
subject.

"Where did you get that bacon you cooked
this morning? I looked and I couldn't find one item of real food in
that kitchen. Who came up the idea to make milk out of almonds?
It's undrinkable. Everything else I could find is either cheese or
fake meat made out of beans. If I want to eat beans, I'll eat
beans. The thought of eating a burger made of beans makes me sick.
Damn, I need some real food."

Henry got the message.
This conversation
is now over. No more talk of women or who now owns what
.

"Jesse's a teenager." Henry said, rolling
with the subject change. He didn't really want to think of Finn
anymore anyway. "The kid's gotta know a good pizza place that
delivers. All we have to do is track that him down. How does extra
pepperoni sound to you?"

Jordon smiled. "Jesse's sitting on the back
porch with Irma. She's sipping a martini, and he's shoveling in
buckets of organic popcorn. Even the snacks in this house are
healthy. This is going to be harder than I thought."

"I ordered that giant refrigerator you
wanted. It'll be here tomorrow. I'll stock it with meat, real milk,
and stuff chocked full of high-fructose corn syrup for you."

"Thank God."

Henry let that one go. Jordon cared too much
about his health to eat too much garbage, but the man sure liked
potato chips, onion dip, and french fries. Not to mention, red
meat, not made from soybeans.

"You know you're kidding yourself if you
think you can avoid telling Reed just how long you plan on invading
her home, right?"

Jordon didn't answer. Henry sighed. Jordon
was a big boy and he was just going to have to figure this one out
on his own. No amount of security, friendship, or pushing was going
to get him to do it any faster. Since he couldn't save the man from
himself, Henry asked the question he really wanted answered.

"Why were you looking for Finn?"

"I wanted to ask her about something that
happened about nineteen or twenty years ago."

"Okay, I'll bite. What could have happened
that long ago that has anything to do with us being here now?"

Jordon stopped walking and turned to face
Henry. He hadn't looked this serious since they snuck into the
Russian Consulate's office during a party to raid whatever
information they could find on possible expansion of Russian oil
pipelines. They made it as far as the bathroom then before deciding
diplomacy was a better alternative to get the information they
needed prior to investing in the region. This time Jordon looked
more determined.

"I need you to find someone for me. She's
about nineteen now." Jordon filled him in on what he knew about the
circumstances surrounding Reed putting her daughter up for adoption
and what he wanted Henry to do once she was found.

"You think that's going to buy your way out
of the shit pile when you leave?"

"We just got here Henry. There hasn't been
time to create a shit pile yet. Let's not jump into or out of
something that may not happen for weeks or months. It may not
happen at all."

The proverbial shit hit the fan later that
night.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Reed closed her eyes briefly, thankful for
the soreness that settled into her bones after making its way
through muscle and tissue. With the soreness came clarity. She
always saw the world in a new, more hopeful light after training in
the dojo, whatever problems she had ceased to loom large allowing
her to see with perspective again.

The dojo and the odd cast of characters who
trained there were like home and family for Reed. A flawed, but
supportive, loyal family, with more than one weird cousin,
accepting of one another regardless of age, sex, ethnicity,
religious practice or income. Everyone was welcome and accepted
here, as long as they trained sincerely. The dojo community was her
shelter from the chaos of life, it was what kept Reed balanced when
other parts of her life shot paint balls at her head.

But not today. Today was different. The dojo
didn't feel like home and Shay didn't feel like family. He wasn't
even acting like her friend.

Sai training had gone well enough. Neither
she nor Shay had a chance to dwell on anything but the moment and
the cathartic release that came with working weapons well with a
trained partner. But as soon as they stopped, there was no more
euphoria, only a sense of aloneness that Reed hadn't felt in Shay's
company since the day they met. Something in Shay shifted. He was
no longer her happy leprechaun.